Win or Die
by ChildOfNike
Summary: Death and victory. Nico and Jayda. A quest ordered by Fate. A thousand monsters against two demigods - who wins? And if they succeed on their quest - what happens?
1. Chapter 1 Jayda

I was sitting in a bus. There was this really fat dude sitting next to me. He smelled like he lived in a trash can. I was squeezed against the bus' window. Outside, the weather was rainy, and there was kinda a small thunderstorm. I don't know why, but I liked thunderstorms. They gave me a...refreshening feeling. I brushed a tress of blond hair away from my face and sighed.

My name is Jayda Sparks. I´m fifteen years old. I have blond hair and green eyes. I play football, and I love singing. And yeah, I´m a demigod. More precisely, a daughter of Nike. You know, the victory goddess... And if you ask - yeah, I like winning.

Right then, I was on the way to my football practises. I raised the volume of my mp-3 player. I was listening to _Titanium,_ which for some reason, was one of my favourites. The fat dude made a sudden move, probably annoyed. Maybe he didn't share the same taste in music . However, he tilted me straight to the window, so there I was closely squeezed against it. I gave him an icy look. Really, what was wrong with this dude?

Well, I think that was enough of complaining. "Excuse me?" I said loudly enough, and gestured towards the busses passageway. "This is my stop."

The dude sighed, annoyed, and then, slowly removed his ass from the seat. My existence was probably a huge headache for him. Well, that wasn't really my problem. I hopped to the aisle and soon stepped to the rain. I didn't have an umbrella. And it kinda wouldn't make any difference if I had one, since my practise was anyway going to be out in the open.

I breathed in the fresh, humid air and let the water run on my face. My sneakers were soon wet, and so was my hair, my clothes... well, I was pretty soaked when I arrived in the football field. The thunder clouds were whirling in the sky, and the rain was increasing. Yeah... the weather was pretty nice.

"Jayda?" One of my teammates, Chloe, exclaimed. Most of our team members were already there, standing in front of the stand.

"Yeah", I answered her. "Where's A?" Our coach's name was Aida, but we used to call her 'A'.

"Don't know", Chloe admitted, "she should already be here."

I scowled. Our coach wasn't usually late. "So, what shall we do, then?"

"Ann, did you call A?" Chloe shouted to the rain.

Ann, who was a few ten feet away from us with the others, raised her cell phone at us, shaking her head.

I pulled my hoodie's sleaves to cover my hands. It was getting really cold, and the rain and my wet clothes didn't help. I looked around for any monsters to appear trying to kill me. I didn't see any. Thought the place didn't feel safe... like something bad was about to happen - and yes, I know that feeling pretty well. The only question was: what should I do with my team mates? They could be pretty annoying sometimes, but I kind of didn't want them to be eaten by... anything. I took my hand on the zipper of my sports bag. Besides my football, water bottle and other normal stuff, I kept my silver dagger in there. I bit my lip. "Okay", I said in a loud voice and led Chloe towards the rest of our group. "I think we should go to McDonald's." There was a small McDonald's near the football field. We sometimes went there after practises.

"Mm... Okay, fine with me. It's freezing out here!" Lauren said, shivering a bit.  
>Soon the others agreed with my idea, since A hadn't aswered their phone calls or text messages. I couldn't be sure, but I thought, that even though they were mortals, they could sense the danger. Not wittingly, but uncounsciously. So they followed me to the McDonald's without any protest. I still didn't spot any monsters, but I stayed alart. With the rain and everything, my field of vision was pretty small.<p>

I lived in a small town in Ohio with my dad. We stayed in an old row house in the middle of nowhere. My school was there, too. It was a shabby, small school, and there was only something like a few hundred pupils, if even that. The football field was in the same part of the town, only a few miles from our house. The summers I spent at Camp Half-Blood, and sometimes I visited there also other times. For the rest, I lived here in Ohio. It could be extremely boring. But now it seemed that something un-boring was finally happening. And yes, unlike many other demigods, I actually got bored if monsters didn't attack me often enough. Yeah, that may sound a bit strange.

So, after a few minutes of plodding in the rain, we reached McDonald's. It was a shabby, small house - wasn't everything in this place small and shabby? We were all soaked, and I heard Adyson murmuring something about her hair and make up, which, for surprise, were ruined by the rain. I turned to check my back, then rushed the others to go inside.

Inside the McDonald's, there was just the cash desk and a few tables. There wasn't staff behind the cash. And there were no customers. It was almost abnormaly quiet, the only sound I heard, was the rain outside. My teammates fell silent, too. Yeah, I was pretty sure, they could sense the danger. And then, without any warning, a dozen monsters appeared from nowhere, like the shadows had made them. In short order, I slided my hand into my sports bag and pulled out my dagger. "Get down! Under the tables!" I shouted to my teammates, as I stepped in front of them to face the monsters. From the corner of my eye, I saw the girls plunge on the ground. They looked terrified, as they tried to hide under the tables. The monsters had surrounded me. They were everywhere around me. Fortunately, they didn't seem to find the other girls worth of killing. There were only two kinds of monsters: snake women and laistrygons. The place was a bit small for the latter ones - their heads almost touched the ceiling.

I quickly looked behind, and for my amazement, the access to the door was clear. I quickly stepped back, planning to bait the monsters to come out after me, so that my teammates would be safe. But as I took my firs step backwards, someone grasped my shoulder from behind. I tensed, shocked. For a second ago, there weren't anyone behind me... I striked the grasper in the chest with my elbow. The strike was hard, but as the person reeled back, he still managed to pull me with him out of the door.

I fell on my butt, and my hands met the hard tarmac. I immediately looked behind my shoulder, to see who had yanked me out. For my big surprise, I saw Nico di Angelo behind me. "Nico!" I got on my feet and gestured towards the McDonald's. "How did you know to come here... Whatever. How about my friends?"

"They'll be left alone. The monsters are after us... after me, we should get going."

"How can you be sure?" I hesitated.

"Just trust me!" He caught my wrist. "Come!"

And in a one glimpse, the view around me turned black, and the temperature fell even colder. I knew what was going on: we were shadow traveling. It was something I had never experienced before. I didn't know which was up, and which was down. There was nothing but pure darkness around us, and the speed was... Well, kind of awesome.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2 Jayda

After a moment of darkness, we stepped out of the shadow. Nico squeezed my hand for support and blinked a couple of times, as if trying to stay awake.

"You okay?" I asked, releasing his hand.

"Yeah", he answered, looking around.

I also started studying our surroundings. We were on a small street, which looked like it could've been in the same part of Ohio were I lived. Even the weather was the same. But I could tell for sure, that we were actually far from my home. Far from that football field and that McDonald's. I couldn't help shivering a bit from the cold. I was still dragging along my sports bag, which hung on my shoulder, and holding my dagger. Fog hung in the air, making the whole place look gray. "Um... Where are we?" I asked, not knowing what was happening. But I was pretty sure Nico was in trouble. Even more than he usually was.

"Well... I don't know. But it doesn't really matter, since we're not staying here." He looked like the monsters had been hunting him nonstop for weeks. He kept looking around like expecting an enemy to appear in any moment. His typical black clothes were torn, there was a long cut on his cheek and a piece of black cloth was wrapped around his left arm like a bandage.

I frowned at him. "What's wrong? And don't even consider saying 'nothing'."

"It's a long story... And we really don't have much time."

"Okay, but could you even tell me _why_ we don't have much time? What's happening?" I looked him into the eyes, determined to get a decent answer.

Nico didn't meet my eyes. "You know..." He sighed. "Okay. Have you ever heard of the... _Force hunters_?"

My first thought was the baddies from Star wars that hunted down the Jedi. Then, since I didn't think that was what he meant, another, totally creepy thought hit me. A shiver went down my back. Nico indeed looked like he'd been _hunted_. That desperate expression on his face... Could someone really be after his _force_, or _powers_, which sounded much saner.

He nodded seriously, reading my expression. "Yep. They wanna steal my Underworld powers."

The whole idea sounded insane, though I was pretty sure he wasn't kidding. He didn't do that too often. "So... how to stop them?"

"By destroying their base."

"Which is in...?"

"No idea. I've been trying to find it, but it's pretty hard, since it can be anywhere and their minions - those monsters you saw - are tracking me night and day."

"But if they caught you and took you to the base...?"

He shook his head. "If I ended up there as a prison, I'd have zero chances. Pretty handy for them."

"And let me guess: no one has ever found it before being caught, right?"

"Yep. If someone had, we wouldn't be here."

I sighed. "Well... then where should we start looking for it?"

"You don't understand. I'm going alone. You have to go to the camp, otherwise you'll be in danger, too."

I crossed my arms on my chest. "In danger? You think I haven't been in danger before? Besides, why would they even want me - I'm only an inborn champion, no supernatural abilities."

Nico bit his lip. "I... don't know. But apparently they _do_ want you. Those monsters that just attacked you, were their minions."

I frowned. How had Nico known to come to that certain McDonalds when the monsters attacked me and my teammates? Did he think I needed help or something? Gods it's annoying, when someone thinks you need help when you just don't! "I would've dealt with them myself." I blurted, raising an eyebrow.

Nico rolled his eyes. "A wonder." Then his expression suddenly tensed. I didn't sense any specific danger, but apparently he did. "Run!" He gripped my wrist and coursed to the road side, dragging me along. There was just a small strip of forest, and across it, I could see a highway.

"Are we going to thumb a ride?" I shouted over the traffic noise.

"Um, something like that", he answered, scanning the road. He closed his eyes, concentrating.

Before I had the chance to ask him what he was doing, a black limo appeared on the highway. And by 'appearing', I mean it literally. First, there was just a red Lada and a few ten feet behind it a dark green Jeep. Then, suddenly, there was that limo between them. "Cool." I mumbled, as the BMW pulled on the brakes and stopped in front of us. The Jeep bypassed it to the next lane, causing startled honking and brake rasps.

Nico gave me a... guilty? look, then opened the car's back door and took a seat in the middle. He cast me one more nervous glance, then turned at the driver.

I knew this would most likely be the most suicidal quest in my life. Almost impossible to complete. But Nico was my friend - or at least something like that - and he was in trouble. In very bad trouble. And I was a daughter of Nike. I had never turned down a challenge. And, after all, if Nico had to beat those Force hunters to keep his freedom - he could need a champion on his side. I was pretty good at blowing things up, and I had decided to blow up one certain base. I sat down next to him and closed the car door.

Then I saw the driver. I flinched. And I don't usually do that. I was staring at a terrible looking bald hag, who had glowing eyes, sharp, yellow fangs and leathery wings folded on the back. I was pretty sure she was one of the Furies. I didn't look away, although looking at her really wasn't a pleasure. "Um, hi." I said.

She grinned maliciously, slobber dripping from her fangs. "Isn't it the little champion. How nice."

I wasn't really sure how to respond, but I didn't have to try. A man whom I hadn't noticed before sitting on the other front seat, turned at us. _Just getting better and better_... I thought. It was Hades himself. He had long, black hair, intense black eyes and even paler skin than Nico's. Usually, him appearing wasn't a good thing, but he _was_ Nico's dad... Could he really be here to help? I kept my face blank.

I glanced at Nico. Now he certainly looked nervous. "Um, hi dad", he said. "How did you...?"

"...Know to come with Alecto? I'm a god. I know things. But lets get to the point and not waste time. It's possible, that the place you seek is..." The lord of the Underworld sighed. "Agh, explaining things to mortals... how I hate it..." He muttered. "It's possible, that it exists in many placed in the same time, like we gods. That's why it may be a bit... _difficult_ to find."

I frowned. "So you're telling us we have no chance?" I started to get angry. This dude was just disgusting.

Nico gave me a warning look.

Hades narrowed his eyes. "Hold your tongue, girl. I though you may be useful, but your attitude is really pissing me off. Maybe I should just..." He raised his hand, as if intending to blast me. Then he hesitated.

"What do you mean by useful?" Nico asked quickly.

Hades rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to safe your worthless life and you still dare to be that slow." He shook his head. "What I mean is the dagger, of course!"

"The...?" Nico asked, stunned.

I raised my dagger, which I was still holding in my hand. "_This_ dagger?"

"Yes." Hades said, sounding bored, like wondering, how dumb we mortals could be.

I fingered the hilt, which was decorated with black stone inlays. _Black_ stone...

Nico gasped. "Dad... what have you done?" He's voice was full of disbelief and grave anger.

Hades laughed. "Styxian iron. It's interesting how our enemies always swallow that trick."

Hades had tricked me. As I now thought of it, I actually didn't remember how I'd got the dagger. Apperently, Hades had somehow made me have it. But I was glad I had it. Without it, Nico would wander alone in gods know what place, running from monsters and trying to find a base that possibly wasn't anywhere to be found. Was that what Hades had thought?

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><p><strong>So that was the chapter two! Don't forget to leave me a review ;)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3 Nico

I was completely thunderstruck. Okay, surely Hades had never been too honorable, but this? Wasn't it enough, that _I_ was somewhat doomed? The last thing I wanted, was anyone else to be involved in this mess. Least Jayda.

But Hades just smirked, somewhat amused. I skimmed over Jayda, feeling more and more guilty. She was scoping out the dagger, looking thoughtful. Then she raised her gaze at me, tucking the dagger back into her sports bag. "Well, what's the plan?" Her words weren't a surprise to me. She had this sometimes pretty strenuous obsession of digging for trouble. But now it started to really aggravate me.

"Jayda." I muttered. "You don't understand. Now isn't the time to show off your spunk." My voice raised at the end, and I finished up staring at her fiercely, challenging her to protest. Which she of course did.

"Oh, now I'm showing off or something? Do you really think of me like that? That I'm just always showing off, not caring about anything else than my own glory or something? Can't you just realize, that I'm trying to help you?" She managed that all in the same breath, staring back at me her eyes flaming overheated.

"I don't need your help." I muttered, closing my eyes and slumping against my seat. I tried to focus my thoughts to the essential, but it was hard. The guilty feeling didn't ease from saying her that I didn't need her help. I knew I had insulted her. She had meant it, when she offered her help. She really _wanted_ to help. It felt strange. I had got used to dealing with everything alone. I hated myself for even thinking it, but the thought that I maybe didn't have to go through this alone... _Shut up_, I told to that small, desperate part of my mind. I wasn't going to die a coward.

My dad cut off my thoughts. "Well, I don't think it's yours to decide, boy. I'll take you to... what's the name of that place again, Alecto?"

The fury cackled. "Florida, my lord."

"Florida?" Jayda asked next to me.

"The Sea of monsters is there... you think the base could be there?" I looked out of the car window. It felt like we were driving at a normal speed, but the scenes were flashing off so fast, they were just gray colored blur.

"As I already told you, it's not that simple", Hades said impatiently. "But yes, you _may_ find it from there. And by you, I mean you two together. You, Nico, and this kid of Nike... Death and victory - they are necessarily connected to each other. To win a battle, you have to kill your enemies."

That sounded reasonable, but yet confusing. And the point was this was one of those many times, when Hades' information were more than deficient.

Suddenly, the car slided to a sudden stop. "Okay!" Hades exclaimed. "Off you go then, and remember what I told you!"

"But-..." Jayda started, but before she could continue, the limo had disappeared. We were standing on a palm-fringed street and the sun was shining so bright after the dim light in the BMW that I felt I was going to blind. I cursed, squinting my eyes.

"Nico?" Jayda said quietly, opening the zipper of her sports bag.

I looked to the direction she pointed at, and saw a shadow flicker on the corner of a pink town house. I pulled out my sword.


	4. Chapter 4 Nico

There weren't more than a few dozen of them, forming from the shadows, trying to surround us. It wasn't much, but I knew, that there were more coming. Not too many to deal with, but enough to set us in trouble. This was their strategy: They kept hunting you like a vicious cat playing with a mouse - they exhausted you, wounded you, but gave you a chance to escape. Then they traced you again and again, until you were too weak to fight back. I guess it was easier to them, if the victim wasn't in full condition when arriving to their base.

But anyway, we were standing back to back in the shrinking circle of monsters, waiting for them to strike. I raised my sword, taking a good position, as the snake woman in front of me attacked. I cut the monster in half before she had time to throw her net on me. As I kicked down another monster, I got a glimpse of Jayda from the corner of my eye. She seemed to really enjoy this. While cutting down more monsters, I heard her muttering once in a while 'Oh, please!' and some other sardonic comments like that to the enemy. That just seemed to be her way to fight.

I dodged another net thrown by a snake woman, then kicked it from the monster's grip. She tried to stab me with her trident, but I rejected and turned her into monster dust. There were big holes among the circle of monsters, and we were forcing them to back off. "Jayda!" I shouted, stabbing the laistrygon that tried to patch up the loose space in front of me. "Lets get out of here!"

She kicked down an empousa, casting me a quick glimpse. "Wait! I'll just finish these losers!" She lashed her dagger - or should I say Hades' dagger - in a wide arc, cutting two monsters at once. Then she somersaulted over a snake woman, stabbed her in the back while landing on her feet and kicking away another monster. I had to admit she had style.

She elbowed one more empousa, turned back at me with that typical complacent face of hers, then sprinted past. I gave one last glance at the street that was now covered in monster dust and at the corner of the pink town house, where now flickered another shadow. Then I sprinted after Jayda.

**-LINE BREAK-**

"Wasn't that...", Jayda panted out as we stopped running on a street that looked pretty much like the one we got tossed by who else than Hades. There were same kind of pastel colored town houses and the street was fringed with palm trees. The only difference was the tall, white fence that lined the garden. "Wasn't that a bit too easy?" She managed, sweeping aside a tress of wet hair from her face.

I shrugged. "More appeared right after we killed the last monsters. They're tracking us just now." I took a deep breath and slumped against the fence.

"Oh. Should've guessed that."

I sighed. I wanted to get mad at her. It was so frustrating, how she didn't seem to take this any seriously. Maybe it was just her way to act, but still - couldn't she just admit that the situation was bad? "Jayda, can't you just give me the dagger and..."

"Please, don't start it again, Nico! You know it's no use. Besides, didn't Hades say that we might even have a slight chance of beating the Force hunters? So, couldn't you just be optimistic for the first time in your life?"

"Alright", I sighed. It was way too hot, the sun was dazzingly bright and the fact that I hadn't slept for about a week, didn't make thinking any easier. What had dad meant when he talked about our chances and the death and victory stuff? I mean... how was it supposed to help us to find the Force hunters' base?

"Good", Jayda blurted. "One problem solved. Now, lets try to solve the other ones, too. You talked about the Sea of monsters... So, does that mean we have to rent a boat?"

"Well... yeah, I suppose."

Jayda poked my arm. "Gods, when was the last time you slept?"

I gave her a quick glare.

She shrugged, then pointed toward the waterfront. "So, shall we go, then?"

I quickly scanned our surroundings for any lurking monsters, then followed Jayda down the street toward the sea.


	5. Chapter 5 Jayda

The monsters were at our heels by the time we reached the port. For a while, we just wandered among the huge port constructions, trying to find a ship we could use. The only problem: we had no money. Or well, to be exact, Nico had a few dollars, but that didn't really help.

I peeked around the corner of one of those identical structures the place was full of, waiting to see some monsters. But instead of monsters, I saw a strange symbol burning on the wall of a shabby house: a golden laurels against a black frame. My eyed widened. That didn't belong to the mortal world, and something in it shook me up right down to the soul. I blinked. It felt like I should've known that symbol... Then it came to me.

"Nico!" I whispered, turning to look at him. I pointed at the house where the symbol burned.

He slowly looked over my shoulder and gasped. "You think that could be...?"

He didn't have to finish. I nodded, turning to check my back. There wasn't anyone... yet. "Lets check that out!"

I took a spurt to the shack which was about fifty feet far, Nico at my heels. On that side of the house, there wasn't anything but a small window with so much dirt on it, I couldn't see through, and, of course, the symbol, which flickered on the wall's surface. The golden wreath was so bright, it almost dazzled me, and the black background was the complete opposite for it.

I raised my hand toward the image, but before I could touch it, Nico shoved my hand away.  
>"Don't touch it", he said firmly.<p>

I blinked. It was like I'd been in a trance... The image had attracted me, and I wasn't sure if it was a good thing. "Should we go in?" I asked, turning my gaze away from the symbol.

Nico frowned. "Yeah, I guess. That's the only clue we have." He gave the symbol a last thoughtful glance, then walked to the corner of the house.

I followed him, still thinking about the symbol. A golden laurels... the victor's symbol. Nike's symbol. Black frame... Death and victory. Was this some sort of trick of Hades? Or was he leading us to... well, hopefully to the base of the Force hunters? Or were the Force hunters trying to lead us into a trap? I sighed. However desperate it sounded, we didn't have a choice. This _was_ our only clue.

We found the door behind the corner. Above it, there was a cracked sign that said 'Boats for rent'. The door was glass, but again so dirty, we couldn't see through. Nico opened the door and peeked in. He gave me a quick look, one hand on his sword's hilt, other on the door handle. Then we stepped in.

The place really looked like a normal boat hire, though it was just as shabby from the inside than it was from the out. The desk was on our left, and above it was the catalog. I took a step closer to it, squinting to see what it read. Had we been led here for a boat? We sure needed one, but I doubted this was the only place in the port that we could find one.

The whole place was out of customers, and there was no one behind the desk. Okay, it started to remind me a bit too much of that McDonalds where the monsters had attacked me...

_Okay, lets deal with this quickly_, I thought, turning to check our exist. Still no monsters. I took another step closer to the desk. The floor was sticky under my sneakers and a waterdrop dripped from the ceiling into my hair. _Ew._

The catalog was still almost thirty feet far, but I managed to read it: _A trireme with extra strong armor & weaponry, - now ONLY 55, 000 drachmas/day_, said the first part. Okay, this wasn't a normal boat hire. I turned back to Nico, but before I could say anything, the door next to us exploded and monsters flooded in.

I was glad my dagger wasn't in my sports bag anymore, and I could just pull it out from my belt. "The window!" I shouted to Nico, keeping my eyes at the monsters.

The first laistrygon that had apparently broken the door, attacked. I stepped forward, covering Nico so that he could focus on breaking the window. I hunched under the monster's first strike, then sidestepped, slicing it's waist. It turned into monster dust.

But the monsters weren't stupid enough to attack me one by one this time. instead of that, they tried to get behind me, to get me trapped. I couldn't risk checking how Nico was doing, so I could just hope he could get us out. Two snake women attacked me from each side, and I rolled under their hits, quickly stabbing the other one on the back and hitting the other one's face with my elbow.

"This doesn't break!" Nico yelled from behind, and it sounded like he was banging the window with the back of his sword.

I sighed in frustration as I stabbed one more snake woman into monster dust while elbowing another. _Yep, why not? We're stuck in this freaking hellhole full of monsters, and even the window is against us. Or well, the person that has designed the window is against us, which maybe isn't just bad luck, since this place is pretty likely a private boat hire for monsters, or something like that..._ I kicked down an empousa, rolled under a laistrygon's hit and stabbed it on the back.

"You sure you can't break it?" I yelled to Nico, still trying to hold back the monsters.  
>He appeared next to me, joining the fight.<p>

"I guess we just have to make them back off and go through the door!"

I gave him a quick glance. I was pretty sure that wasn't going to pay off. "Hold them for a second!" I told him on an impulse. _There has to be a way to break it..._ The symbol on the shack's outer wall was still looming in my mind. I just felt some sort of a connection to it... A _good_ connection, I realized. It was hard for me to think it had been just a trap.

I ran to the window, which was just as dirty from the inside than the out. It wasn't more than three feet high and maybe two feet wide. _Big enough for an escape..._ I imitated Nico, banging the back of my dagger to it as hard as I could. No effect. Okay, it wasn't just a normal window.

Then I got a grazy idea. I didn't even now where it came from, but... well, you could always give it a try. I stepped a few feet back and threw my dagger toward the window.  
><em>CRASH!<em> The dagger went straight through the window and fragments of glass flew all around.

"Nico!" I whooped. "Let's go!"

He kicked away en empousa, then turned to follow me.

I jumped out of the window, sprinting to the street that hopefully led closer to the waterfront... And ran straight into a line of laistrygons.


	6. Chapter 6 Jayda

Okay, that was stupid. _Really_ stupid.

I took a hasty step backwards, facing the monster in front of me. It snarled, baring me it's pointed yellow teeth.

I raised my dagger, which I had yet picked from the ground after breaking that window. The laistrygon swung it's mallet at my head. I hunched under the strike, stabbing the monster in the stomach.

Still cursing myself for being such an idiot and running straight into these filthy monsters, I took another step backwards, scanning the situation.

There were about fifteen of them. Eight feet tall, red skinned monsters with huge tattooed arms and pointed yellow teeth, armed with nasty looking spike covered metal mallets.

I gave Nico a quick look, taking a good position. Then the monsters rushed at us like enraged bulls. It was like they were going to town this time, decided to finally catch us. Or then their boss, whoever he was, had gotten enough of just playing with us.

I tried to remain my concentration, but to be honest, I was starting to lose my cool. I _hated_it when I screwed up. It was something I just couldn't swallow. I, Jayda Sparks, child of victory, had screwed up.

I somersaulted over another laistrygon's lashing mallet, stabbing it in the back at full tilt while landing on my feet. Suddenly two laistrygons attacked me from both side, and I hunched under the first strike, barely managing to reject the other. The blow was so hard, I almost reeled back, and I heard a scraping sound as the spikes of the mallet met my dagger. I quickly dodged the laistrygon's next hit, stepping back as another laistrygon attacked me from the left.

The monsters kept pushing on. I hunched under a hit that came for my face, quickly stabbing the laistrygon in the side. Instantly, another monster came from the right, trying to surprise me. It swung it's mallet in a wide arch, leaving me no other options than backing out again.

It seemed that that was their new strategy. They didn't try to circle us anymore, but they separated us, attacking two-or-three against one.

I expected the monster to come after me, but it didn't. It stayed with the group, attacking Nico. There was something strange in it... Laistrygons weren't supposed to be that smart.

I realized my mistake. I had left Nico alone with all those monsters, and that was what they had wanted. Now it was they all versus Nico alone. And he didn't seem to be doing any better than I had. The laistrygons had now circled him, and he was losing. Now I could see just how exhausted he was.

I rushed back into the fight, managing to stab one monster in the back before it even noticed me. I tried to draw the others' attention to me instead of Nico, and soon half of the monsters were on my case again. _These are just lousy laistrygons, a piece of cake!_ I told myself, even I wasn't so sure about that. These were much smarter and quicker than laistrygons usually were.

Suddenly, when I was just about to stab one of the monsters, it just... Disappeared. Wherever my dagger would've hit the monster just less than a second ago, it now only hit the air, causing me to reel back. I looked around, trying to understand what had happened.

"What the...?" I turned at Nico, who was sitting on the ground like he had stumbled.

"Jayda..." He muttered, looking past me, eyes widened in dismay.

I quickly turned around, seeing a human figure coming from... _Oh no, this is bad..._ He was coming from the monsters' boat hire. The guy was still pretty far, but I could already tell he was huge, and he was clearly coming toward us.

I took a step forward, raising my dagger. Whoever he was, I was pretty sure he wasn't on our side, which again meant he needed killing.

"Hold it, Jayda!" Nico said in a low voice, sounding alarmed.

I turned to give him a questioning look. "Who is he?"

Nico didn't answer, but quickly stood up, looking terrified.

I turned back at the comer. He had come closer, and... well, I can just say that it wasn't a pleasure to get to see him more specifically. He looked something between an ugly old sea captain and a walrus. And not in a human way, but in a monstrous way.

"So!" The walrus guy exclaimed, and he really _sounded_ like a walrus. "Decided to run straight into our trap, didn't you, little champion?" He laughed, approaching us leisurely.

My jaws tightened. "You shouldn't have said that", I muttered between gritted teeth.

"Jayda..." Nico warned.

But I had had enough. I surged towards the walrus guy, letting out a furious battle cry.

But before I had even made it half-way to him, something strange happened. The guy raised his fist, and I saw some kind of blue flicker in it... a ring? Then a lightning struck from the cloudless blue sky, connecting with the walrus guy's fist.

I was too enraged to realize to dodge in time. The guy pointed his fist at me, releasing the lightning. It shot me straight in the chest, slamming me up in the air. The blow of electricity knocked me out before I even hit the ground.


End file.
